Following this intro paragraph is a 'term paper' I wrote two years
for a UT class I took.  I do not possess any legal qualifications to
interpret copyright law of course but the paper does contain factual
data from the UT Library 'law' section.

George

                   ***********************************

Recently there have been several questions regarding the proper use and
protection of copyrights.  This paper hopefully answers some of those
questions.

First, it should be noted that the Copyright law was changed by Congress
in 1976, and most of the rumors, myths, etc., that grew up under the old
law are definitely no longer applicable.  For example, it is NOT
necessary to register anything under the new law to obtain copyright
protection.  The new law provides three tiers of protection: creation,
notice, and registration.

As soon as a work is created, which means reduced to a tangible form,
the author has copyright protection.  This means that if you write a
document, copyright protection exists from the moment the ink hits the
page.  It is NOT necessary to publish the document to assert your
copyright.  However, if the document does not contain a proper notice of
copyright,  you cannot generally collect damages for unauthorized
copying prior to actual notice.  This means that if your document does
not contain a notice, and someone copies it, and then you notify that
person that the work is copyrighted, you cannot collect damages on and
the notice.  You can, however, obtain an injunction to stop the copying,
and you can collect damages for any copying done after the notice.
Thus, if you place a proper notice on a work when it is created, you can
not only stop someone from copying it, but you can also collect damages
for any copying done.

One of the questions most often asked seems to be how to put a proper
copyright notice on a created document.  The easiest way to remember the
elements of a proper notice is to consider what you would need to know
to determine if the work is still under copyright, and who to contact to
obtain a license to copy.  Thus, a proper notice must contain the year
or years in which the document was created, along with the name of the
author.  If the document was created by an employee of an organization
within the scope of their employment, it is known as a "work made fo
hire", and the author is the organization.  Thus, works made for hire
should contain the year and the name of the organization.  In most
cases, the name of the organization used should be the legal name as
registered with the Secretary of State at the time of incorporation or
formation.

Note that in some cases, it is proper to use a trade name which is not
the legal name of the organization, such as IBM instead of International
Business Machines, Inc.  This is only proper, however, where the
tradename is so well known that there will be no confusion as to the
author.  In most cases it is better to be safe, rather than take the
chance that a court will find that the name used was insufficient
notice.

A further point regarding the notice is that there may be more than one
year given.  If a document is first created in 1982, and then updated in
1983, a proper copyright notice should be:

Copyright 1982, 1983,  Company Name, Inc.

The third tier of protection is actual registration with the Copyright
office.  It is necessary to register a work prior to bringing suit to
enforce your copyright.  However, this registration may be made the day
before suit is filed, and is, therefore, not necessary unless an
infringer is discovered copying an author's copyrighted work.  It is
true that an author cannot collect statutory damages for copying prior
to registration, but these statutory damages are small, and of little
consequence in most cases.  It is possible to collect actual damages and
obtain an injunction for copying prior to registration, and in the case
of software, such actual damages could run into millions of dollars, so
the registration question is mainly one that concerns only lawyers, and
only then when litigation is anticipated.

In the case of software, it is necessary that the copyright notice be
readable, even if the software is not.  This means that a label
containing the copyright notice must be affixed to all copies of object
code, while all copies of source should have not only the label, but
also a notice within the source code itself.  Each time the software is
updated, the notices should be updated as well, to reflect the year in
which the update was made.  Note that it is not necessary to change the
notice if there has already been an update of the software in the year
in question.  For example, an update made in the third quarter need not
update the copyright notice if there was a previous first quarter update
in the same year which has already added the current year to the
copyright notice.

Thus, the following guidelines should be used on all software,
documents, manuals, data sheets, etc. that the author desires to protect
from unauthorized copying:

1.  Install a copyright notice on EVERY copy.

2.  Make certain that all copyright notices contain the year or years of
    creation.

3.  Make certain that all copyright notices contain the legal name of
    the company.

4.  Do NOT authorize, either orally or in writing, ANYONE to copy the
    company's copyrighted material without approval through the
    company's General Counsel office.  THIS IS VERY IMP]ORTANT TO
    PREVENT LOSS OF ALL OF THE COMPANY'S LEGAL PROTECTION UNDER
    COPYRIGHT.

5.  If you become aware of any company software or manuals that do not
    contain a proper copyright notice, bring the matter to the attention
    of one's supervisor, who should contact the company's Office of
    General Counsel on methods for remedying the problem.

Another area of concern with copyrights has been the use of material
copyrighted by someone else.  The new law allows certain copying of
copyrighted material, called "fair use" without violation of copyright
laws.  Libraries, for example, may make an archival copy of a
copyrighted work without violation of copyright.  In the case of
software, it is fair use to make a copy for backup or archival purposes,
so long as one has ownership or a license to the original, but it is not
fair use to utilize the copy made for any other than backup or archival
purposes.  Thus, a copy of a disk which also includes a copyrighted
operating system that is used for backup purposes is not an
infringement.  If the system crashes and the backup copy must be used to
restart the system, that also is fair use.  However, if the copy is
transfered to another system (CPU) and is used there in lieu of another
purchased or licensed copy, then an infringement has occured.  Also,
multiple copies of an archival nature may be made if the intent is to
use them as archives and the existence of the copyrighted operating
system on each copy is ancillary to the archival purpose.  Once again,
this cannot be used to defeat the copyright owners right to the revenue
from additional copies, but may be retained under a fair use exception
so long as a valid license or ownership exists for the copyrighted
operating system.

An individual may make a copy of a copyrighted work for certain
non-commercial purposes, such as research.  If one has a magazine or
book that one would like to copy a portion of for the purpose of further
study, it is fair use to make a single copy for that purpose.  One may
not use that copy, however  in lieu of the original magazine or book.
If this sounds confusing, please let me attempt to clarify it.  If one
would like to circulate an article from a magazine, but one would not
like to have one's magazine torn up in the process, one may make a
single copy and circulate that in lieu of passing one's magazine around.
One may not, however, make several copies.  One may not also do the
circulation for commercial purposes.  Thus, if one is conducting a
seminar for a fee, one may not use the copy, but must use the original
material.  The point behind all of this is to insure that the copyright
holder does not lose revenue because of the copying.  Since one has
already bought a copy of the magazine, making a copy to show to one's
friend, so that he or she will not have to pay for a subscription, then
it is NOT fair use, and the copying is an infringement.  Probably most
of us have witnessed rampant copyright infringement in college.  Many
professors erroneously believe that they may copy large parts of
copyrighted textbooks, journals, etc. and distribute them to their class
members in lieu of having them purchase the texts or to go to the
library for the journals.  Without permission from the copyright owner,
such copying is an infringement.  It is interesting to note that each
student could go to the library and make a copy of the journal article
for purposes of studying it without violating copyright, but the
professor's wholesale copying and distribution is a violation.  Thus, if
the copying is for personal academic use, and the amount of material
copied is not large, it is fair use to make and use a single copy.

Some of the worst offenses in this regard are perpetuated by those who
should have known better.  It is very important to observe the laws of
copyright, since the penalties can be very large.